We stepped out of our taxi after travelling for two days and saw our zoo keeper son, in our garage, bent double inside his car with the vacuum.  He unfolded himself and stood up to wave and then ducked back down again while we hauled 6 large and 6 small bags in the vague direction…

We decided to go and see our final musical in the West End of London. Travelling with my youngest is an experience, she always has a malady that slows her down. On Saturday it was a sore hip and bruised tail bone.  These dancers! We began our trip to London with a quick spin around…

Malia and her dad went to the Warner Brother’s studios at Watford Junction. A special father/daughter outing. They spun round the Harry Potter exhibit in a couple of hours; she’s not a great reader and Dad had been before. When they reached 4, Privet Drive, they ate their packed lunches and watched people share the…

When we met Malia from college last week it was the last time she had to make the journey from Leigh-on-Sea. She wanted to see the Olympic rings suspended from Tower Bridge and as we waited for her train hubs and I wandered to the river front for a preview.  A five minute meander past…

I cannot bring myself to start the process of physically putting items into suitcases. I have spent hours this year sorting drawers and cupboards and shredding bills and papers, but now it has come down to having to fill cases I am procrastinating. Hubs and daughter are happily flinging stuff into their two bags and…

I’ve mentioned Beckenham Place Park often this year, its ancient woodlands, carpeted with bluebells in the Spring and now stinging nettles and flowering blackberry bushes thronging the muddy footpaths.  Loosely woven hedgerows form to entice nesting birds, squabbling squirrels, foraging foxes and invisible adders that scurry and flutter setting up a rustling and releasing fresh…

This morning I was wide awake at 420am and decided the time was right to get a recording of the dawn chorus, which may sound the same in America but I would know otherwise. I slipped out of bed, unplugged my iPod and quietly opened the patio door not wanting to interrupt the birdsong. I…

I visited a side of the family I knew only through the family grapevine of gossip and news. Years ago accounts of their exploits would reach me and my brother through letters, sometimes word of mouth, if a relative had been to visit, occasionally by telephone. Today Facebook has kept everyone current and when I…

Malia and I went for a cream tea at Kew.  We didn’t go into the gardens we just enjoyed the little town square and sat under a cafe awning, in the rain, sipped our tea and ate scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. Absolute heaven…without the sunshine. We then dallied our way to Richmond,…

I have a routine on Fridays.  I brought it with me from America and it anchored me during my first few traumatic weeks.  Now it soothes me as I prepare for my show knowing I have not let myself down, which I could do so easily on some of the weeks when I am either…